Such a housing is known for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,082. This housing is provided with side walls and a section for accommodation of a gas generator by means of which an airbag is inflated if an accident occurs to the vehicle which requires retention of the passengers. An interior cladding element such as, for example, a cover hood can be attached at the end of the housing away from the gas generator.
Such retention devices are normally designed in such a way that the gas generator is only activated in order to inflate the airbag when a predetermined seriousness of accident is sensed. For this reason there is a need to design this retention device in an advantageous manner also for such cases of retention which occur with relatively low vehicle deceleration. To this end it is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,082 that at least one of the side walls of the airbag module housing exhibits a deformation section, in which the side wall material is formed in waves. By means of this measure it is achieved that when the head of a vehicle occupant strikes the cover hood of the airbag module, this side wall yields mechanically and therefore a part of the impact energy is transformed into deformation work.
However, it is considered to be disadvantageous that if there is a pull force on the interior cladding element fixed to the side wall of this airbag module housing, the one or several deformation sections also yield mechanically, which leads to elongation of the side walls which is not desired. Such a case occurs, for example, when the interior cladding element is formed as a constituent part of the instrument panel of a motor vehicle, to which a vehicle occupant holds fast when entering or leaving the vehicle.
The holder for an interior cladding element of a motor vehicle described in DE 101 08 685 C1 attempts to overcome this defect, and also serves to accommodate an airbag module. For this purpose, pre-formed set buckling areas are formed on two opposite side walls, which consist of surface sections which project sideways from the surface of the relevant side walls. These surface sections continue to be deformed in the case of a collision with the holder or with the interior cladding element in such a way that the holder is pressed together basically parallel to the force which is taking effect.
In order to be able to resist pull force on the interior cladding element or the interior cladding element which is fixed to it without deformation of the holder, hooks are formed on the two side walls which exhibit set kinks. These hooks bridge over these set kink areas in such a way that the side walls can be pushed together as described when subjected to pressure loads on the holder and on the other hand, when there is a pull force the hooks hook into allocated openings and therefore prevent the set kink areas which are already present from pulling together.
A disadvantage of this holder is its relatively complex structure, which makes manufacture expensive and difficult.
The task of the invention is therefore to present a housing for acceptance of an airbag module of the generic type which can be manufactured at low cost because of its structure and on the one hand yields mechanically if the housing or an inner cladding element is affected by force, as well as on the other hand resists pull forces without deformation of the side walls.